U.S. patent number 3,932,031 [Application Number 05/404,138] was granted by the patent office on 1976-01-13 for side and corner glare eye shade.
Invention is credited to William V. Johnston.
United States Patent |
3,932,031 |
Johnston |
January 13, 1976 |
Side and corner glare eye shade
Abstract
A side shade attachable to a bow of a pair of spectacles and
having a main portion hanging therebeneath but also a transverse
shaped portion attached thereto and adapted to lap the adjacent
side edge of a frame of the spectacles for closing out glare from
coming to the wearer's eye from the area immediately rearward of
the front of the spectacles.
Inventors: |
Johnston; William V. (Omaha,
NB) |
Family
ID: |
26834746 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/404,138 |
Filed: |
October 9, 1973 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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136913 |
Apr 23, 1971 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
351/47; 2/13 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G02C
9/04 (20130101); G02C 11/12 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G02C
9/00 (20060101); G02C 9/04 (20060101); G02C
009/04 () |
Field of
Search: |
;2/13,14J
;351/44,47,48,57,58 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Sacher; Paul A.
Parent Case Text
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 136,913, filed Apr.
23, 1971 and now abandoned.
Claims
I claim:
1. A spectacle and side shade assembly for glare protection
comprising a side shade in further combination with a pair of
conventional spectacles having a horizontally extending bow and a
lens-supporting forward frame portion, said side shade having a
main side shade portion having forward and rearward ends and right
and left sides and hanging substantially beneath said bow,
attaching means connected to said main side shade portion and
attaching in an easily removable way said main side shade portion
to said bow whereby without using tools a user can manually remove
said side shade from said bow and attach said side shade to said
bow, a transverse shade portion extending transversely of and to
one side of said main side shade portion, said transverse shade
portion substantially lapping the outer side edge of an adjacent
part of said lenssupporting forward frame portion of said
spectacles, said side shade main and transverse portions both being
adapted to substantially shade the eyes from glare, except by means
of said spectacles said side shade being free of any connection to
any other side shade.
2. The assembly of claim 1 in which said material is also
transparent for possibility of side vision.
3. The combination of claim 1 in which said entire side shade is
made integrally of one piece of material.
4. The assembly of claim 1 in which said main and transverse side
shade portions are both formed of flexible and resilient
thermoplastic material.
5. The combination of claim 1 in which said main shade portion and
said transverse shade portion are made substantially of the same
piece of material.
6. The spectacle and side shade assembly of claim 1 in which said
attaching means comprises means generally U-shaped as seen in
cross-section in a vertical plane extending transversely of said
bow and open at the underside thereof and receiving said bow
therein.
7. A spectacle and side shade assembly for glare protection
comprising a side shade in further combination with a pair of
conventional spectacles having a horizontally extending bow and a
lens-supporting forward frame portion, said side shade having a
main side shade portion having forward and rearward ends and right
and left sides and hanging substantially beneath said bow,
attaching means connected to said main side shade portion and
attaching in an easily removable way said main side shade portion
to said bow whereby without using tools a user can manually remove
said side shade from said bow and attach said side shade to said
bow, a transverse shade portion extending transversely of and to
one side of said main side shade portion, said transverse shade
portion substantially lapping the outer side edge of an adjacent
part of said lens-supporting forward frame portion of said
spectacles, said side shade main and transverse portions both being
tinted and therefore being adapted to substantially shade the eyes
from glare, except by means of said spectacles said side shade
being free of any connection to any other side shade, said
spectacle assembly being free of any section of said transverse
shade portion lapping the center of the adjacent lens of said
spectacles, said transverse portion being formed of a thermo
plastic material sufficiently thin that it can be cut with a pair
of scissors.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention is in the field of side shades attachable to eye
glasses and positioned at the side of the wearer's head and adapted
to be used in companionship with either colored lenses of the
spectacles or else colored forward shades of the clip-on type.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
In the prior art it has been possible for persons who do not need
corrective lenses to purchase what can be called "wrap-around" eye
shades which are commonly called sun glasses but which are actually
quite often made of colored plastic. The effect of such wrap-around
plastic shades or spectacles is to prevent glare from reaching the
wearer's eyes not only from the front, but also from the side, as
is very important.
This importance is particularly the case for people who drive great
distances or whose business life is a combination of close eye work
and being outdoors in the brightness of the sun.
These advantages have not been available to the unfortunate person
who must wear corrective lenses.
A person who wears corrective lenses can go to most drugstores and
buy clip-on sun glasses which cover only the forward part of the
spectacles, leaving the eyes to painfully receive glare from the
side.
It is true that in the past side shields have been proposed to clip
on the bows of eye glasses, but these have not reached common
availability on the market, perhaps because they are faulty in that
they always leave a substantial "glare-gap" between the side edge
of the front of the frame of the spectacles and the side
shield.
The problem is quite great because of the extensive variety in the
shapes and sizes of the side edges of the forward parts of the
frames of the many styles of spectacles.
In my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,385, "SPECTACLE-MOUNTED EYE
SHADE", issued Oct. 27, 1970, to William V. Johnston, a special
two-part eye shade set was proposed in which the forward part had
outer edges extending rearwardly to lap the side shade portions.
However, that construction had disadvantages. One serious
disadvantage is that people have heads of varying widths, and so
their spectacles have varying widths, and a forward portion wide
enough to fit one person's spectacles would be too wide to fit
another, leaving many merchandising and supply problems, the cost
of extra dies for manufacture, and other difficulties.
The side shade portions of my earlier patent could not be used
effectively with common clip-on sun glasses of the type that clip
onto the forward sides of regular spectacles because they had no
provision for taking care of the "glare-gap" above-mentioned.
And so, to this day, it is still not possible for most people to go
to their drugstore and purchase a complete solution to the problem
of front and side shade for a person who has the handicap of
corrective lens spectacles.
A disadvantage of great importance in the shade structure shown in
my earlier patent is that the forward shade portion would
necessarily have to be made out of some sort of thermoplastic
material of inferior optical quality to ground lenses, and it is an
object of this invention to provide a side shade adapted to be used
with front shade lenses of high quality whether they be of clip-on
type or built-in type.
It is unimportant that side shades be of high optical quality, but
very important that forward shade portions be of high optical
quality, whether they be clip-on type, or otherwise. I am aware
that side guards or shields have been proposed in clear material
not for sun glare protection but for protection from flying objects
and involving a transverse portion attached to a main portion which
latter is riveted to glasses' bows. However, a great difference
exists because in a guard there is no need for a lapping of the
respective side of the glasses' frame since it is not needful to
merchandise such a side shield in a form to adapt to spectacle
frames of various shapes or to be adapted to the latter by
trimming. There is a fitting problem with the side glare shades of
my invention which are to be mass marketed -- a problem which this
invention solves.
Most spectacle bow mounted side shields have been for the purpose
of shielding the eyes from moving objects. In other words, safety
shielding so that such side shields have been of clear plastic --
not tinted. It is only where the side shades are tinted that the
"glare gap" above mentioned is a problem. Where side shades are
tinted and have a transverse portion extending over to the adjacent
edge of the lens supporting portion of the spectacle frame, that
there is a "glare gap" problem, unless the transverse portion laps
the frame, which is my invention, the glare gap existing when the
transverse portion does not tightly fit against the adjacent edge
of the spectacle frame portion. The lack of a tight fit would be a
major problem in merchandising because spectacles are so many
different shapes. Lapping is an excellent solution because where
there is lapping, the exact shape is not so critical and a buyer
can adapt the shape somewhat himself by cutting the terminal edge
with a pair of scissors. Elimination of the "glare gap" by the
lapping is especially important where sun is shining through the
side window of a car.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A side and corner glare eye shade adapted not only to prevent glare
from reaching a wearer's eye from the side, but also to
substantially prevent flare from reaching the wearer's eye from the
"corner" between a main side shade portion at the side of the
spectacles and whatever means is used to shade the forward side of
the spectacles, which latter can be having the lenses of the
spectacles themselves of a shade nature, or having clip-on sun
glasses placed over the front of the spectacles, the main shade
portion being adapted to hang substantially beneath a glasses' bow,
a suitable means attaching the main shade portion to the bow, and a
transverse shade portion disposed transversely to the main shade
portion in use and extending inwardly for lapping the outer side
edge of the adjacent lens-supporting forward frame portion of the
spectacles or "glasses" on which they are mounted.
The main shade portion and the transverse shade portion being
integrally made of the same piece of material or else closely
spaced so that substantially no light can be passed between the
main shade portion and the transverse shade portion, and in the
latter alternative means being provided for securing the transverse
shade portion to the main shade portion.
Means for attaching the side shade portion comprising means
generally U-shaped when seen in a vertical plane extending
transversely of the main shade portion and downwardly opening so as
to be placeable onto the bow of a pair of conventional corrective
lens spectacles from the top, the U-shaped attaching means being
substantially resilient. A particular object of this invention is
to provide a transverse side shade portion of a horizontal width
for extending transversely of the main side shade portion in use
far enough for substantially lapping the outer side edge of an
adjacent lens-supporting forward frame portion of conventional
spectacles on which the side shade is mounted.
A further object is to provide the concept of having the transverse
portion extending so far that most users of conventional spectacles
would prefer to trim some of the transverse portion off in order to
make adjustment to their own particular case.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a left-hand side shade as it would be
seen from the left-hand side of a pair of spectacles, the
spectacles being shown in dotted lines, the transparency of the
shade causing edges of a far side thereof to be seen in full
lines.
FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of the side shade of FIG. 1 with
portions of the spectacles shown therein in dotted lines, a
rearward portion of a bow of the spectacle not being shown.
FIG. 3 is a frontal elevation of the side shade of FIG. 1 seen in
the position lapping the rearward side of the left portion of the
front frame of a pair spectacles, the latter shown in dotted
lines.
FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the side shade and the spectacles of
FIG. 1 as seen along the line 4--4 of FIG. 1.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the shade of FIG. 1 as seen from
above and to the left side thereof.
FIG. 6 is a view of a flat piece of material cut to form the side
shade of FIG. 1, dotted lines showing fold lines to be used.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The side shade of this invention is generally indicated at 10 in
FIG. 1, and as shown, is attachable to a bow of a pair of
conventional corrective lens spectacles shown in dotted lines at
12.
The side shade 10 has a main shade portion 14 having forward and
rearward ends 16 and 18 and right and left sides seen at 20 and 24
respectively, and is adapted to hang in a position substantially
beneath the bow 12.
The side shade 10 has means 30 attaching the side shade 10 to the
bow 12. The attaching means 30 is generally U-shaped when seen from
the rear or when seen from a vertical plane extending from right to
left transversely of the main shade portion 14 and is open on the
underside so as to receive a glasses' bow 12 therein. For strength,
the U-shaped attachment portion 30 preferably extends substantially
from one end to the main shade portion 14 to the other. It is
important, however, that the inner side, which in the example shown
is the right side portion 24 of the U-shaped attachment means 30,
be provided with a notch 50, seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, for receiving
therein the hinge 70 at the forward inner side of the glasses' bow
12, since the hinge juts out inwardly from the glasses' bow 12.
The side shade 10 further has a transverse shade portion 100 having
an outer edge 102 which is upright and which is attached to the
main shade portion 14 integrally, or is suitably secured. When
integrally attached, the entire side shade can be made from a
single integral piece of material shown in FIG. 6 with the fold
line at F extending upright to form the edge 102 and with
approximately horizontal fold lines at G and H shown in dotted
lines in FIG. 6. The fold line G forms an upper inner or right-hand
corner 110 of the U-shaped portion 30 and the fold line H parallel
to the fold line G forms the outer left-hand corner 112 of the
U-shaped portion 30, as best seen in FIGS. 5 and 6.
The transverse portion 100 has an inner upright concave arcuate
edge 130 which is shaped complementally to the inner edge of the
adjacent upright upper portion of the forward section 170 of the
spectacles 12.
It may be that in the market situation that it is best for the
transverse portion to be of a greater right-to-left thickness, or
rather, width than needed for most spectacles whereby if it
overlaps the frame to excess, the customer can take a pair of
scissors and trim back the edge 130 somewhat to adapt to the size
and shape of his actual pair of spectacles.
It is preferred that the side shade be entirely made of a single
piece of flexible, bendable, but form-holding and resilient
thermoplastic material that is at least translucent and preferably
transparent with coloring. Such material can be cut with scissors
for the purpose described.
Referring to FIG. 6, it will be seen that the upper outer edge of
the transverse portion 130 has a notch 250 therein further adapting
it to receive the hinge 70 so that the transverse portion 100 can
lie close to and parallel with the rearward side of the forward
portion of the glasses' or spectacles' frame.
The downwardly depending terminal outer side portion of the
U-shaped attachment portion 30 is shown at 260 and is spaced a
substantial distance from the inner side of the U-shaped portion 30
to receive the bow of the spectacles therebetween. It is to be
noted that, except by means of spectacles 12 themselves, side shade
10 is free of any connection to any other side shade that might be
put on the other side of the spectacles.
* * * * *